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PDE 2.01 USER'S GUIDE Copyright 1994 James R. Aragon All Rights Reserved TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 SHAREWARE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 LICENSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Shareware Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Registered Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 WARRANTY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Shareware Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Registered Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 REGISTRATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Benefits of Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Customized Versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 STARTING PDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Dialing Directory Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Monochrome Video Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Quiet Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 GETTING HELP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Online Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Printing This Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 ERROR AND INFORMATION MESSAGES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Message Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Invalid Keypress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 MOVING AROUND IN PDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Escape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Cursor Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 PageUp/Down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Goto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Find . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Find Next . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 MENUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 MARKING ENTRIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Marking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Clearing Marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 ================================================================= PDE 2.01 USER'S GUIDE PAGE 2 ================================================================= EDITING THE DIALING DIRECTORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Insert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Erase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Delete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Move . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Pack Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Revise Entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Add Entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Sort Entries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Dialing Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 CREATING A NEW DIALING DIRECTORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 SAVING A DIALING DIRECTORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 MISCELLANEOUS COMMANDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Jump to DOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Print Directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Printing to a Parallel Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Printing to a File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Toggle Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Exchange Directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Loading A New Directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Using the Picklist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Dialing Directory Integrity Checks . . . . . . . . . . 18 Undoing Your Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Exit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Quiet Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 HOW TO CONTACT ME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 TRADEMARK INFORMATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 PROGRAMMER'S NOTES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 ================================================================= PDE 2.01 USER'S GUIDE PAGE 3 ================================================================= PDE 2.01 USER'S GUIDE INTRODUCTION Welcome to PDE, the dialing directory editor for Procomm Plus version 2.x. Procomm Plus, the popular communications software by Datastorm Technologies, Inc., is a great program, but its dialing directory has one major drawback: there is no easy way to move dialing directory entries around. The only way to move an entry to a new spot in the dialing directory is to delete it from its current spot and then manually re-enter it at its new location. And if the new location is already occupied, then THAT entry also has to be manually re- entered at a new spot. It gets worse quickly. Suppose you have twenty entries in your dialing directory. You hear about a new bulletin board, so you add an entry for it in spot number 21. After a few days of calling this BBS, you realize that it's a really great board. In fact, you call it more often than any other BBS. You decide to move its listing up to spot number 1 in your directory, so it will always be the first one highlighted when you activate the dialing directory. In order to get entry number 21 into spot number 1, you will have to completely retype AT LEAST two entries. You can swap entry 1 with entry 21 by re-entering both of them. But if you also call the old entry number 1 a lot, you probably don't want it to become entry 21. What if you want to put your new entry, number 21, in spot number 1, and just push all the others down one spot so that they keep their present order? With Procomm Plus's dialing directory, you would have to manually re-enter ALL TWENTY-ONE entries. That's where PDE comes in. With PDE, you would just "mark" the entry or entries you want to move. Then move the cursor to the new location and press 'M' for "move." Presto, the marked entries move to their new location and the other entries move down (or up) to fill in the gap left when the marked entries were moved from their old locations. In addition to moving entries, PDE lets you add new entries, revise existing entries, erase entries, delete entries, search for entries containing specified text, and sort a block of entries by any of five sort criteria, in either ascending or descending order. You can also print a listing of all the non- ================================================================= PDE 2.01 USER'S GUIDE PAGE 4 ================================================================= blank dialing directory entries, and you can shell to DOS to execute other commands or programs without shutting down PDE. SHAREWARE If you're already familiar with shareware, then skip ahead to the "License" section; otherwise read on. Shareware is "try before you buy" software. PDE is not free software, nor is it public domain software. Both the program and this User's Guide are Copyright 1994 by James R. Aragon. All Rights Reserved. This program is copyrighted commercial software, just like software you buy at a computer store. The only difference between "regular" commercial software and shareware is the marketing method. With normal commercial software, you have to pay for the software before you can try it. With shareware, you can try the software for a limited evaluation period BEFORE you buy it. At the end of the evaluation period, you are on your honor to either pay for the software, or remove it from your drive and stop using it. Paying for shareware is usually called "registering." LICENSE Shareware Version You are granted a free limited license to use this shareware version of the software for evaluation purposes for thirty calendar days from the date you first install this software. At the end of the thirty-day evaluation period, you must either purchase the regular license by registering the software, or discontinue using the software and remove it from your computer. However, even if you discontinue using the software, you may still keep copies on disk to pass on to others as explained below. See "Registration" (page 6) for details on how to purchase a regular license. The shareware version can be identified by the legend "UNREGISTERED EVALUATION COPY" at the bottom of the main screen, just above the copyright notice. Private individuals may distribute this shareware version freely, subject to only two minor restrictions: 1. You must include ALL of the files (they are listed in the file PACKING.LST), and you may not modify any of the files. You may, however, archive the files, or unarchive them, or change the archive method. ================================================================= PDE 2.01 USER'S GUIDE PAGE 5 ================================================================= 2. You may not sell or require a payment for this software, however you may collect a distribution fee, not to exceed $10 total, for the cost of copying the software and the media on which it is distributed, and shipping and handling. Disk vendors, user group or computer club librarians, bulletin board sysops, and other distributors please see the file VENDOR.DOC for distribution terms applicable to you. Registered Version Upon payment of the registration fee, you will be granted a permanent non-transferable license to use one copy of this software. You may install the software on as many computers as you like, as long as only one copy is in use at any one time. WARRANTY Shareware Version Since the evaluation version of this software is distributed free, it is provided AS-IS. I make no warranty, express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of this software is with you. Should the software prove defective, you assume the entire cost of all necessary repair, servicing, or correction. In no event will I be liable to you for any damages, including lost profits, lost savings, or other incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use or inability to use this software, even if I have been advised of the possibility of such damages. Registered Version For the registered version of this software, I warrant only that it will operate substantially as explained in this documentation. Should the software prove defective, your sole remedy is to receive a refund of any license fee paid. In no event will I be liable to you for any damages, including any lost profits, lost savings, or other incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use or inability to use this software, even if I have been advised of the possibility of such damages. This warranty gives you specific legal rights, and you may also have other rights which vary from state to state. Some states do not allow the exclusion of implied warranties or exclusion of liability for incidental or consequential damages so the above may not apply to you. ================================================================= PDE 2.01 USER'S GUIDE PAGE 6 ================================================================= REGISTRATION The cost to register this software and obtain a regular license is $15. Add $5 for shipping to countries outside the United States and Canada. Send a money order or check drawn on a U. S. Bank to: James Aragon 101 Heather Court Vallejo, CA 94591 As soon as your check clears, you will receive a copy of the latest registered version of PDE by return mail. The software will be shipped on a 5.25" double-density disk unless you request 3.5". To make it easy, I have included the file REGISTER.FRM. This is an ASCII file which you may print and fill out for use as an order form. However, you don't have to use this form. You can simply print your name and address on a piece of paper and send it to me with your registration fee. Actually, you don't even have to do that. You can just send your registration fee and if you don't include an order form (either mine or one you print yourself), I'll send the disk to the name and address on your check or to the name and return address on your envelope. Benefits of Registration 1. You will get the latest version of the program and documentation, complete with any bug fixes or enhancements. 2. Your name and address will go into my customer database so I can contact you in case of any future bug fixes or upgrades. 3. The registered version does not display the legend "UNREGISTERED EVALUATION COPY" on the main screen. 4. The registered version does not display the shareware reminder screen when you exit the program. 5. The registered version has a quiet mode that lets you turn off the speaker sounds. 6. If there are any future upgrades, registered users will be able to get them at a discount. Frankly, I think PDE is pretty full-featured right now, so at this time I'm not planning any upgrades. But if there ARE any, registered users will get a discount. By "upgrades" I do NOT mean "bug fixes." If any bugs are found in the program, they WILL be fixed, if at all possible. ================================================================= PDE 2.01 USER'S GUIDE PAGE 7 ================================================================= 7. You should feel good about yourself, because registering is the right and legal thing to do. Customized Versions Customized versions of PDE that involve minor modifications, such as displaying your name or your company's name, changing colors, or changing which keys activate a command, may be available for a small additional charge. If you think you would like a customized version, please contact me and we'll discuss your proposed modifications. See "How to Contact Me" on page 19. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS An IBM-PC or compatible with DOS 3.0 or higher and about 250K free RAM. PDE has also been tested extensively in a DOS session under OS/2 2.0 and 2.1 with no problems. STARTING PDE Running PDE is easy. You can just type "PDE" to use the default values, or there are some options you can specify. If you specify more than one option on the command line, the options can appear in any order. Dialing Directory Name First, you can specify the dialing directory you want to edit. The command "PDE BACKUP.DIR" tells PDE to load a dialing directory called BACKUP.DIR. All dialing directory files must have an extension of ".DIR". If you omit the extension from the command line, PDE will provide it for you. Therefore, an easier way to execute the same command is "PDE BACKUP". You can include a complete path in the dialing directory filename if you want to edit a dialing directory that is not in the current subdirectory. For example "PDE C:\BACKUP\OLD.DIR". If you do not specify a dialing directory name, PDE will try to load PCPLUS.DIR from the current subdirectory. You don't have to specify the dialing directory when you start PDE. Even if PCPLUS.DIR isn't the directory you want to edit, you can always use the Exchange Directory command to change to a different directory after PDE is running. If PDE can't find the dialing directory you specified (or PCPLUS.DIR, if you didn't specify a directory), it will ask if you want to create a new directory. See "Creating a New Dialing Directory" (page 15) for details. ================================================================= PDE 2.01 USER'S GUIDE PAGE 8 ================================================================= Monochrome Video Mode Normally, PDE will automatically detect the type of video display you have and set its colors accordingly. However, some laptop liquid crystal displays will identify themselves as color displays, even though they aren't really. The same goes for the so-called "black and white VGA" displays. In order to accommodate these displays, you can force PDE into monochrome mode by using the '-m' switch. To run PDE in monochrome mode and load PCPLUS.DIR you could type "PDE -m". The 'm' can be either lowercase or uppercase, and the switch character can be either '-' or '/', so to run PDE in monochrome mode and edit your backup dialing directory, you could type "PDE BACKUP /M". The order of the command line arguments doesn't matter, so "PDE -M BACKUP" would work just as well. In fact, PDE only checks the first letter following the switch character; anything else is ignored. So, if you're really bored, you could name your backup dialing directory "RIVER.DIR" and then you could type "PDE -Mississippi River". Normally, on a monochrome monitor, PDE displays most text in normal color, but certain things (like the name of the directory being edited, or the headings above the dialing directory entries) are highlighted. If you have a monochrome monitor but everything looks the same (no highlighting), try the 'm' switch. Quiet Mode [Registered Version only] PDE beeps the speaker whenever it displays an error message or warning message. If you want to turn the sound off, use the '-q' switch. For example, "PDE -q". You can also toggle the sound off and on after PDE is running. See "Quiet Mode" (page 19) under "Miscellaneous Commands." Just like the "-m" switch, 'q' can be either lowercase or uppercase, and the switch character can be either '-' or '/'. GETTING HELP Online Help A brief summary of PDE's main commands is displayed at the bottom of the main screen, but because of lack of space not all commands are shown. However, PDE also has context-sensitive help. Press <F1> anytime you want to see a help screen. PDE is aware of where you are in the program, and will display different help topics, depending upon what you are trying to do. When you are at the main screen, <F1> will display a help screen that explains all the available commands. ================================================================= PDE 2.01 USER'S GUIDE PAGE 9 ================================================================= If there is more help text than can be displayed in the help window at once, you can use the <CursorUp>, <CursorDown>, <PageUp>, or <PageDown> keys to scroll through the help text. Also, if you have a mouse installed, you can click on the PageUp or PageDown buttons or on the scroll bar to the right of the help window. Pressing <End> will move the cursor to the bottom of the visible help window. If the cursor is already at the bottom of the help window, pressing <End> will move to the very bottom of the help text. Pressing <Home> will move to the top of the visible help window. If the cursor is already at the top of the help window, pressing <Home> will move to the very beginning of the help text. You can bring up an alphabetical list of all available help topics by either pressing <Alt><I> or clicking your mouse on the Index button. Once the index is displayed, you can move forward through the help titles with <Tab> or backwards with <Shift><Tab>. When you are on the topic you want, press <Enter> to select that topic. You can close the help window at any time by pressing <Esc> or clicking your mouse on 'Quit'. Printing This Manual To print this manual position your printer at the top line of the paper and enter the DOS command "copy pde.doc prn". In order for the page breaks to be positioned properly, you must be using standard 8-1/2" paper with the vertical spacing set to six lines per inch (the default for most printers). ERROR AND INFORMATION MESSAGES Message Window Whenever PDE needs to display an error message or information message, it will pop open a window on the screen, display the message, beep the speaker, and wait for a keypress. After you have read the message, you can remove the message display from the screen by pressing any key except <F1> (<F1> always activates the online help). If you don't press a key, the message will automatically remove itself after five seconds. Invalid Keypress Whenever you press an invalid key, PDE will beep the speaker and ignore the keypress. For example, pressing 'O' from the main screen would be invalid, because there is no command that is activated by 'O'. 'C', for Clear Marks, is a valid PDE command, but pressing 'C' when there are no marks to clear would be invalid. In the registered version only, the speaker can be turned off with the Quiet Mode command (page 19). ================================================================= PDE 2.01 USER'S GUIDE PAGE 10 ================================================================= MOVING AROUND IN PDE The movement commands in PDE work almost exactly the same as in Procomm Plus. If you can find your way around a Procomm Plus dialing directory, then you can also find your way around PDE. The movement commands are: Escape From the main screen, <Esc> will exit from PDE. From anywhere else, <Esc> lets you "back out" of what you are doing. From the Revise Entry command, you may have to press <Esc> several times to get all the way out and back to the main screen. If the cursor is positioned on a field where you enter text from the keyboard, <Esc> will take you straight back to the main screen. But if you are at a field that has popped up a menu, the first time you press <Esc> will only take you out of the current menu or submenu. Cursor Keys The <CursorUp> and <CursorDown> keys make PDE's highlighted cursor bar move up or down by one line. If you press <CursorDown> at the last entry on the screen, PDE will move the display down by one page (ten entries). If you press <CursorUp> at the first entry on the screen, PDE will move the display up by one page. PageUp/Down <PageUp> and <PageDown> shift the display up or down by one page (ten entries). The cursor always moves to the FIRST entry on the new page. If you are on the first page (entries 1 through 10) and you press <PageUp>, PDE will wrap around to the last page (entries 191 through 200). If you are on the last page and press <PageDown>, PDE will wrap to the first page. Home Pressing the <Home> key will always move to entry number 1. End Pressing the <End> key will always move to the first entry on the last page (entry number 191). Goto To go directly to any entry in the dialing directory, simply type the number of the entry you want to go to. For example, to go to entry number 15, simply type "15" and then press <Enter>. Whenever you press a number key (except for zero), the Goto command is activated. ================================================================= PDE 2.01 USER'S GUIDE PAGE 11 ================================================================= You can also activate the Goto command by pressing 'G' just like in Procomm Plus. PDE will open a window and prompt you for the entry number to go to. The number you enter must be between 1 and 200. If you enter an invalid number, PDE will display an error message and then prompt you again for a valid entry. You can cancel the Goto command at any time by pressing <Esc>. Find Press 'F' and PDE will prompt you to enter a text string to search for. PDE will move to the first entry that contains that string in EITHER the name OR the phone number field. The search is not case-sensitive, so entering "JOE'S BBS" will have exactly the same effect as entering "Joe's bbs". The search string can be anywhere within the name or phone number fields, so entering "Joe's BBS" will find both "Joe's BBS Node 2" and "Fred and Joe's BBS". PDE searches downwards from the currently highlighted entry. If it reaches the bottom of the dialing directory without finding a match, it wraps to the first entry and continues searching downwards until either a match is found, or until PDE has searched the entire dialing directory back to the highlighted entry without finding a match. The currently highlighted entry is not included in the search, so you might see the "NO MATCHES FOUND" message, even though the current entry matches. Find Next Press 'N' and PDE will search for the next entry that matches the search string that you entered the last time you used the Find command. If you have not used the Find command, PDE will act just like Find and prompt you for a search string. Find Next searches the same way that Find does, and like Find, Find Next does not include the currently highlighted entry in the search. MENUS Many selections in PDE are made from menus. Whenever PDE displays a menu, simply move to the desired selection with the cursor keys and press <Enter> or, if you have a mouse, click on the desired selection. You can always back out of menus by pressing <Esc>. Many menus use a "quick-select" character. If one character of a menu item is highlighted, you can select that item simply by pressing that character on your keyboard. For example, from the "SORT BY" menu, you can select "TOTAL CALLS" by pressing 'T' regardless of where the cursor bar is. Be careful with this feature. On a few menus, more than one selection uses the same quick-select character. In that case, ================================================================= PDE 2.01 USER'S GUIDE PAGE 12 ================================================================= PDE will search downwards from the cursor bar and select the FIRST item that matches the quick-select character. MARKING ENTRIES PDE allows you to "mark" one or more entries, so that a command will act on all the entries at once. Some PDE commands can work on either the single entry that is highlighted by the cursor or on a block of entries. Some commands will work ONLY on marked entries. Commands that can work on either a single entry or a block of marked entries are Delete and Erase. Commands that can work only on a marked block are Move, Pack, and Sort. In the case of Move, the marked block can be as small as a single entry. Marking To mark entries, move the cursor to the first entry to be marked and press <F3>. You must mark downwards (towards higher numbers). So, for example, if you want to mark entries 15 through 23, you must start with entry 15. When you press <F3>, marking will be turned on, and the entry under the cursor will be marked. A triangle symbol will appear to the left of the entry number to indicate marked entries. The word "On" in the phrase "F3 Mark On/OFF" will be highlighted to show that marking is on. You can mark additional entries by using any of the normal movement keys: <CursorUp>, <CursorDown>, <PageUp>, <PageDown>, Find, Next, <End>, and Goto. If you move too far down and mark too many entries, you can use any of the movement keys to move back up. As the cursor moves upwards, it will unmark entries. However, since you can only mark downwards, you cannot move up beyond the first marked entry. When you are finished marking entries, press <F3> again to turn marking off. In the phrase "F3 Mark On/Off," the word "On" will return to normal color and the word "Off" will now be highlighted. This indicates that block marking is now off, but there is a marked block. Once marking is off, you will once again be able to move above the first marked entry. Clearing Marks If you change your mind about performing an operation on the marked entries, or decide that you want to change which entries are marked, you can clear the marks by pressing 'C.' You can do this while you are still marking entries; it is not necessary to press <F3> the second time to turn marking off before clearing the marks. When you press 'C' all the marks will be cleared and either "On" or "Off," whichever was highlighted, will return to ================================================================= PDE 2.01 USER'S GUIDE PAGE 13 ================================================================= its normal color. If you press 'C' when there are no marks, PDE will simply beep. EDITING THE DIALING DIRECTORY Now that you know how to move around the dialing directory and mark entries, let's see how to actually make changes to the directory. Insert Pressing <Ins> will insert a new blank entry at the cursor location. Although it's not shown on the main screen, you can also press 'I' if that's more convenient. All following entries will be pushed down to make room for the new entry. This command will fail, with an error message, if there are no blank slots below the cursor. Erase If no entries are marked, pressing 'E' will erase the entry under the cursor. If any entries are marked, Erase will erase all of the marked entries. The Erase command blanks out the Name, Phone Number, Script Filename, Password, Meta Filename, Keyboard Filename, and Note Filename fields. The Total Calls field is set to zero, the Last Call field is set to "00/00/00" and the Baud Rate, Parity, Data Bits, Stop Bits, Duplex, Port, File Transfer Protocol, Terminal Emulation, and Mode fields are all set to default values. Delete If no entries are marked, pressing the <Del> key will delete the entry under the cursor. If any entries are marked, then all of the marked entries will be deleted. Unlike Erase, when entries are deleted, the following entries move up in the dialing directory to fill in the gaps where the deleted entries were. New blank entries are added at the end of the dialing directory to fill in the gap created by moving entries up. Move To move entries to a new location in the dialing directory, first mark the entries you wish to move. Move will not work unless the entries are marked, so even if you only want to move one entry, you must use <F3> to mark it. After you have marked the entries you want to move, press <F3> again to turn marking off. You can now move the cursor to the new location where you want to move your entries. Press 'M' and your marked block will be inserted at the new location. The only restriction on moving entries is that you cannot attempt to move a block to a position WITHIN the marked block. ================================================================= PDE 2.01 USER'S GUIDE PAGE 14 ================================================================= Pack Block When you have erased a lot of entries, you may end up with a lot of gaps in your dialing directory. You can get rid of these gaps using Pack. Pack only works with marked entries, so first mark the entries you want to pack, then press 'P.' PDE will scan through the marked entries and delete each blank entry, which will cause following entries to move up to fill in the gap left by the deleted entry. An entry is considered blank if BOTH the Name field and the Phone Number field are blank. No other fields are checked. However, unlike a regular Delete, a new blank entry will not be added to the end of the dialing directory. Instead, it will be added to the end of the marked block. Therefore, entries outside the marked block will not be affected and will not change position. Revise Entry To edit the highlighted entry just press <Enter>. Although it's not shown on the main screen (due to lack of space), you can also press 'R' just like in Procomm Plus. The pop-up editing screen works just like Procomm Plus's Revise Entry screen. There is a different context-sensitive help screen for each field, so press <F1> anytime you want help for a particular entry. Add Entry The Add Entry command searches from entry 1 downwards until it finds the first blank entry, and then calls the Revise Entry command. Add Entry is an easy way to add new entries without having to manually search for a blank slot for the new entry. Sort Entries First mark the block of entries you wish to sort. If you want to sort the entire directory, a quick way to mark all entries is to press <F3> when entry 1 is highlighted and then use the Goto command to jump right to entry 200. When the entries you want to sort are marked, press 'S.' A menu will pop up and allow you to select whether to sort by name, phone number, baud rate, total calls, or date of last call. Either select one of these choices or press <Esc> to cancel sorting. After you select the type of sort you want (unless you pressed <Esc>), a second menu lets you select whether to sort in ascending order or descending order. Again, you can cancel the sort from this menu by pressing <Esc>. If you are sorting on a field that contains numerical values (phone number, baud rate, and total calls), ascending order means from smallest number to largest and descending order means from largest to smallest. For sorts by phone number, PDE ignores all ================================================================= PDE 2.01 USER'S GUIDE PAGE 15 ================================================================= characters except numerical digits, and treats the phone number as a single large number. If you are sorting by name, ascending order means alphabetical order and descending order means reverse alphabetical order. If you are sorting by date of last call, ascending order means from least recent date to most recent date and descending means from most recent date to least recent date. Blank entries are always sorted below non-blank entries, regardless of what field you are sorting on and regardless of whether you are sorting in ascending or descending order. An entry is considered blank if both the name field and the phone number field are blank. This means that sorting a block of entries also packs the block. Dialing Codes Press 'D' to open the dialing codes editing window. The ten dialing codes are identified by the letters 'A' through 'J.' To edit a dialing code, use the cursor keys to highlight the one you want to edit and press <Enter>. For an even faster way to select the dialing code you want to edit, simply press the letter of the code you wish to edit, for example press 'B' to edit the second dialing code. The dialing codes can contain any characters that your modem will recognize. Dialing codes are most often used for telephone company access numbers or account numbers. CREATING A NEW DIALING DIRECTORY There are two ways to create a new dialing directory. The first is to specify the name of the new directory on the command when you first run PDE (See "Starting PDE," page 7). The other is to enter the new dialing directory name at the Exchange Directory prompt. In either case, if PDE can't find the dialing directory you specified, it will ask if you want to create a new directory. If you press 'y' for "yes," PDE will create an empty directory with the new name. When you first create a new directory, it exists in your computer's memory ONLY. No file is actually created on disk unless you actually enter some data into the new directory and then save it either by exiting from PDE or by using the Exchange Directory command. If you do not enter any data in to the new directory, then it will not be saved. If you press 'n' for "no," a new directory will not be created. If you are using the Exchange Directory command, the directory that was already loaded will remain in memory and the Exchange Directory command will be aborted. If no dialing directory was loaded, which will only happen if PDE can't find a dialing directory to load when it first runs ================================================================= PDE 2.01 USER'S GUIDE PAGE 16 ================================================================= (either PCPLUS.DIR or a directory you specify on the command line), then an empty directory will be created with the name "UNTITLED.DIR". SAVING A DIALING DIRECTORY PDE keeps track of whether or not you have made any changes to the dialing directory that is currently loaded. Any time that you try either to exit from PDE or to load a new dialing directory, PDE will check if the directory has been changed. If there have been any changes, PDE will ask if you want to save your changes. If you press 'y' for "yes," PDE will save the changed dialing directory to disk. If you press 'n' for "no," the changes will be discarded. These two methods--either exiting from PDE or loading a new directory--are the only two ways to save a dialing directory. What if you have made a lot of changes to a directory, and you want to save what you have done so far, but then continue to make more changes? You can fool PDE into doing this by simply using the Exchange Directory command to load the same directory that you are already editing. Be sure to answer "yes" to the "Save changes" prompt. If PDE is unable to save the changes, it will display an error message and abort the current command. Suppose, for example, that you have created a new dialing directory, but when you try to exit from PDE and save the new file, PDE says that it is unable to save the changes. You can use PDE's Jump to Dos command to try to correct the problem and then try saving again. It could be that there simply wasn't enough room on your disk for the new directory. You could delete some files to make room. Or, if you were trying to save the dialing directory file to a floppy disk, you could exchange the floppy disk in your drive for one with more free space. MISCELLANEOUS COMMANDS Jump to DOS Press 'J' and PDE will shell to DOS while leaving PDE active in memory, providing there is enough memory left for another copy of the command interpreter. You may execute any DOS command you wish. Of course, if you do something that causes your computer to crash or lock up, then you will not be able to save any changes you made with PDE. Print Directory Press 'L' to print the dialing directory. PDE will skip blank entries and only print entries that have data in them. An entry is considered blank if both the Name and Phone Number fields are ================================================================= PDE 2.01 USER'S GUIDE PAGE 17 ================================================================= blank. No other fields are considered by PDE in determining if an entry is blank. PDE will ignore any marked entries--except for blank entries, the entire dialing directory will be printed. You can print either to a parallel printer or to a file. Printing to a Parallel Printer: To print to a parallel printer, enter PRN, LPT1, LPT2, or LPT3. PDE does not currently support printing to serial devices, so you cannot enter a COM port. You also cannot print to reserved DOS device names CON or AUX. Printing to a File: To print to a file, simply enter the filename you wish to print. For example, "C:\REPORTS\DIAL.DIR". Toggle Display Press 'T' to cycle among the three display screens. PDE's three screens correspond exactly to Procomm Plus's display screens. The name field is always displayed at the left side of the screen. The other data changes as you toggle among the screens. Exchange Directory Loading A New Directory: Press 'X' when you want to load a new dialing directory for editing. A window will open and you will be prompted for the name of the directory to load. You can manually enter the name of the dialing directory you want (with or without the .DIR extension). The name can include a complete subdirectory path if you want to load a dialing directory that is not in the current subdirectory. Using the Picklist: Instead of manually typing the new dialing directory name, you can use PDE's dialing directory filename picklist. Simply press <Enter> at the filename prompt. PDE will open up a window showing all files in the current directory that have an extension of ".DIR". Move the cursor to the desired filename and press <Enter>, or click on the desired filename with your mouse. You may also move to other subdirectories or even other drives using the pick window. Select "<Parent>\" to move up one subdirectory level, or select the name of a subdirectory ================================================================= PDE 2.01 USER'S GUIDE PAGE 18 ================================================================= to move down one level. Subdirectory names have a backslash on the end, for example "PCPLUS\". Available drives will be shown in brackets, for example "[-A-]". If you have made any changes to the current dialing directory, PDE will ask if you want to save your changes before loading the new directory. If you press 'Y' for "Yes," PDE will write the changes to the dialing directory file on disk. If you press 'N' for "No," your changes will be discarded and the file on disk will be unchanged. Note that ALL files with an extension of ".DIR" will show up in the filename picklist, even if they are not Procomm Plus dialing directories. Dialing Directory Integrity Checks: PDE performs a number of checks before and after loading a new dialing directory file, so it might not be possible to load a file, even if it appears on the picklist. All Procomm Plus version 2.x dialing directory files are exactly 23,050 bytes in length. If the file you select is not this size, PDE will not load the file. It will not load a file if it is unable to determine the file size or if there is an error in opening the file (both of which would probably be due to hardware errors). It will not load a file that is set as read-only, since you would be unable to save any changes. It will also not load a file that has an extension other than ".DIR". This can only happen if you type in the name and extension instead of using the picklist. If you do not type in an extension, PDE will automatically add the correct extension of ".DIR" so it's easier to just leave the extension off and let PDE supply it. If you enter the name of a dialing directory that does not exist, PDE will ask if you want to create a new dialing directory. See "Creating a New Dialing Directory" (page 15) for details. Whenever PDE can't load a dialing directory file, it will display a message explaining the reason. After loading a new file, PDE checks each entry in the dialing directory to make sure that all values are legal. If an illegal value is found, PDE substitutes a default value. For example, there are 9 possible baud rates in a Procomm Plus dialing directory entry. While you see the baud rate displayed as a text string (such as "2400"), internally the ================================================================= PDE 2.01 USER'S GUIDE PAGE 19 ================================================================= Procomm Plus dialing directory actually stores only a single byte. The 9 different baud rates are represented by the numbers 0 through 8. If PDE finds a baud rate value other than 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8, it knows the value has been corrupted and it substitutes value 2, which is 2400 baud. This may not be the baud rate you want, but at least the value is now legal and the entry can be edited in either PDE or Procomm Plus. Undoing Your Changes: You can use the Exchange Directory command to undo your editing changes if you have made a mistake. Press 'X' and then select the SAME dialing directory that you are already editing. Answer "No" when PDE asks if you want to save your changes. PDE will discard the changes and re-load the dialing directory from disk. Exit You can exit from PDE by pressing either <Esc> or <Alt><X>. If you have made any changes to the currently loaded dialing directory, PDE will ask if you want to save your changes. Quiet Mode [Registered version only] To turn the sound off, press 'Q'. Actually, 'Q' toggles the sound. If it was on, it will be turned off; if it was off, it will be turned on. You can also turn the sound off by using the command line switch "-q". When Quiet Mode is active, the word "ON" will appear on the main screen command summary right after "Q Quiet Mode". HOW TO CONTACT ME I've tried to make PDE as easy to use as possible. I've tried to make it so that you won't NEED any support from me. But if you find you have a question that is not answered in the documentation or in the help screens, you can contact me in any of the following ways: CompuServe: I usually check for CompuServe mail daily. My CompuServe user ID is 70372,335. This is the best way to contact me, unless you are local to Vallejo, CA. BBS: My "home" bulletin board is Power Station BBS in Vallejo, California. This is a seven-line BBS with call rollover. The first number in the rollover chain is (707) 552-0602. I check here several times daily. User name "JIM ARAGON". If you leave a message here, use conference ================================================================= PDE 2.01 USER'S GUIDE PAGE 20 ================================================================= 1, "Private Mail." This is the best way to contact me if you are local to Vallejo. Internet: You can send e-mail to my CompuServe account using Internet address 70372.335@compuserve.com, or you can send e-mail to me on Power Station BBS using Internet address jim.aragon@ocr.com. Fidonet: Power Station's Fidonet address is 1:161/123. Be aware, however, that in my experience Fido netmail can be both slow and unreliable. If you use netmail, don't assume your message was received unless you get a confirmation back from me. Telephone: (707) 554-3402. U.S. Mail: James Aragon 101 Heather Court Vallejo, CA 94591-4314 TRADEMARK INFORMATION PROCOMM, PROCOMM PLUS, and DATASTORM are trademarks of Datastorm Technologies Inc. PROGRAMMER'S NOTES PDE was written in the C language and compiled with Borland C++ 3.1. All window, menu, data entry, help, and display routines are from the TCXL User Interface programmer's library by Innovative Data Concepts. Sorry, source code is not available.